Sunday, April 01, 2007

Sunday Confessions

A minimalist week and I'm having to overcome the urge to open and start reading every single book as it comes in the door at the moment, not least What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn.There is much a-crowing going on over at Crockatt & Powell's as they stake the discovery claim on this one and that's been endorsed by its appearance on the OBPF (Orange etc etc) longlist.I'd already decided there's hardly time to crack on through this before the shortlist is announced on April 17th so I've just picked a couple that are coming highly recommended.Hence Peripheral Vision by Patricia Ferguson also in the pile.Yes this was the Patricia Ferguson, a nurse who writes, who I read back along (as we says down y'ere) Indefinite Nights one of my best reads of 1989.My endorsement often the kiss of death in the prizelist scrum so apologies in advance.A couple of books to review, Dana Spiotta's Eat the Document and Fangland by John Marks, both look nicely unusual for me and that's good.Then a couple of second-hand finds, Master Georgie by Beryl Bainbridge, bought, opened and read to tie in with with Crimea-fest and expect a review of that any day.I may just have unlocked the door to Beryldom and me with this one.Finally A Collection of the World's Greatest Letters edited by Michelle Lovric.I love reading letters even if they weren't sent to me and the scope and range of this collection is nicely eclectic.

PS The ungeeky idiot's guide to the secret of legible titles I'm advised is to set your camera to its highest pixels setting, which translates as the biggest and best quality picture it will do.Then when you come to resize it (and I have dug deep into my computer to find Microsoft Picture Editor within Microsoft Office for the simplest way, anything else too complicated for me ) and shrink it you have more pesky pixels squashed into a smaller space and therefore a clearer picture.For your info, this picture started life the size of a double duvet cover.

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Sunday Confessions

A minimalist week and I'm having to overcome the urge to open and start reading every single book as it comes in the door at the moment, not least What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn.There is much a-crowing going on over at Crockatt & Powell's as they stake the discovery claim on this one and that's been endorsed by its appearance on the OBPF (Orange etc etc) longlist.I'd already decided there's hardly time to crack on through this before the shortlist is announced on April 17th so I've just picked a couple that are coming highly recommended.Hence Peripheral Vision by Patricia Ferguson also in the pile.Yes this was the Patricia Ferguson, a nurse who writes, who I read back along (as we says down y'ere) Indefinite Nights one of my best reads of 1989.My endorsement often the kiss of death in the prizelist scrum so apologies in advance.A couple of books to review, Dana Spiotta's Eat the Document and Fangland by John Marks, both look nicely unusual for me and that's good.Then a couple of second-hand finds, Master Georgie by Beryl Bainbridge, bought, opened and read to tie in with with Crimea-fest and expect a review of that any day.I may just have unlocked the door to Beryldom and me with this one.Finally A Collection of the World's Greatest Letters edited by Michelle Lovric.I love reading letters even if they weren't sent to me and the scope and range of this collection is nicely eclectic.

PS The ungeeky idiot's guide to the secret of legible titles I'm advised is to set your camera to its highest pixels setting, which translates as the biggest and best quality picture it will do.Then when you come to resize it (and I have dug deep into my computer to find Microsoft Picture Editor within Microsoft Office for the simplest way, anything else too complicated for me ) and shrink it you have more pesky pixels squashed into a smaller space and therefore a clearer picture.For your info, this picture started life the size of a double duvet cover.

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Team Tolstoy

Team TolstoyA year-long shared read of War & Peace through the centenary year of Count Lyev Nikolayevich Tolstoy's death, starting on his birthday, September 9th 2010.
Everyone is welcome to board the troika and read along, meeting here on the 9th of every month to chat in comments about the book.

Team Tolstoy BookmarkDon't know your Bolkonskys from your Rostovs?
An aide memoire that can be niftily printed and laminated into a double-sided bookmark.

Port Eliot Festival

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